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Affordability

Learn how this St. Olaf College junior weighed her college options, made her choice and manages the cost.

The ways students pay for college is as unique as their college experiences. Students often have several different ways they make paying for college work, and Monique Rondeau, a junior at St. Olaf College, is no different.

Figure out what your student will likely pay to attend college after subtracting grants and scholarships.

Few students actually pay the “list price” thanks to financial aid. To find a more accurate cost based on your family’s unique circumstances and finances, visit the net price calculators for each of our colleges. (Every college is required to provide one on their website.)

Discover the ways in which career development is being more closely integrated into student employment.

While work study is an important part of financially supporting college students, many Minnesota Private Colleges are also working to redefine the role of student employment in career development.

“When employers are hiring for a position many are working off a behavior-based philosophy, which is predicated on work history,” said Dave Broza, director of the Office of Career Development and Calling at Bethel University. “The best prediction for an employee’s success is their past experience and this includes work study.”

Learn how tuition pricing at private colleges works to provide a high-quality experience to families of all means.

At Minnesota's private colleges, students receive an education of exceptional value, as recognized by the more than 40,000 students who choose to enroll in our colleges and demonstrated by our hundreds of thousands of successful graduates. The economic returns of higher education are unequivocally clear, in the form of more stable employment, wider professional opportunities and higher average lifetime earnings. But today few personal or family financial decisions are as significant as the investment in a college education.

Help families understand how additional years of college balloons college costs.

Students don’t plan to take more than four years to graduate, but the reality is that many do — and that means footing the bill for additional years of tuition. It also means that students are losing out on income because they’re starting their careers later.

Learn more about options for families who make too much to qualify for much need-based aid.

Many middle-income families feel like they’re caught between a rock and hard place: They make too much to qualify for much need-based aid, but not enough to foot the entire college bill. The Council recently wrote an article on how middle-income families are paying for college.

Learn how this Hamline business major chose her college and graduated early.

When senior Hamline University business major Madi Nelson was exploring her college options as a high school student, affordability was a major consideration, but it wasn’t the only factor. “I felt like I was going to be the most successful at Hamline,” Nelson said. That success allowed her to graduate early, and she gained a unique perspective on financial aid by working in campus financial aid office.

Discussing money can be an uncomfortable topic for even adults to broach, but it's important to have a sit down with your student about paying for college so they have a better idea of what college costs as well as how and who will be paying for it.

Find out what your options are when it comes to paying for college if you make too much to qualify for much need-based aid.

Middle-income families often feel like they’re caught between a rock and hard place: They make too much to qualify for much need-based aid, but not enough to foot the entire college bill. So how do they make it work?

Find out how legislation moving through the U.S. House of Representatives might affect Minnesota college students.

The landscape of federal support for college students would change dramatically under legislation moving through the House of Representatives. While some new efforts would emerge, several existing sources of aid would be eliminated, with low-income students facing the greatest risks.